Malt-kiln.



R. ROTH. MALT KILN. APPLICATION FILED APR. 10,

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Patented oct.1'2,19o9.

Tieren.

RICHARD ROTH, OE ERFURT, GERMANY.

MALT-KILN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 12, 1909.

vApplication filed April 10, 1909. Serial No. 489,118.

To all whom 'Lt may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD ROTH, a subject of the Emperor of Germany,residing at 81 Gthestrasse, Erfurt, Saxony, Germany, have invented newand useful Improvements in Malt-Kilns, of which the following is aspecification.

Previous to recharging ordinarily constructed malt kilns withgreen-malt, said kilns must be cooled and then gradually reheated forthe treatment of the fresh charge, as a too sudden exposure of the moistmaterial to great heat would produce hardening or vitrilication of thestarchy or dextrin matter containedv in the same. Also kilns havingseparate air-currents for each drying` floor, are not exempt from saiddisadvantage, as the malt cannot be directly transferred from one oor toanother which is considerably hotter. The necessary cooling andre-heating of the kiln incur, naturally, increased consumption of fuelas well as waste of time, disadvantages which are obviated in a kilnconstructed according to the present invention.

Vhile being conveyed through the improved kiln on a traveling,preliminary drying-hurdle in one continuous flow, the greenmalt isexposed to separated air-currents of which each succeeding one has ahigher temperature than the other so that, when reaching the uppermosthurdle in the kiln proper, it is sufficiently dry for enduring theincreased heat without the risk of vitriication.

In the annexed drawings, two forms of construction of the improved kilnare shown diagrammatically in vertical sections.

The kiln a is divided, by means ofv apartition e, into two parts, thekiln proper and a preliminary drying chamber.

In Figure 1 the kiln proper is provided with a furnace t, which can beof any suitable construction and connected to a chimney as. Said furnaceis fed from the Stoke-hole r. The heated air rises through pipes a intothe kiln proper where it passes through the hurdles, consisting of aseries of superposed traveling-aprons z' on which the initially driedmalt is placed. Gradually cooled through the passing of the hurdles, theair then enters the flues 761, 7a2 and 7c3, by which it is conducted inan upward circle to the drying-chamber where it' passes the dryinghurdlec arranged in slanting position in said chamber, and is subsequentlydrawn out through the flue p. The temperature of the separateair-currents can be adjusted according to requirement, partly by meansof dampers l, arranged in the flues so as to regulate the admission ofheated air, and partly by the arrangement of air-shafts m through whicheither cold air from the atmosphere, or, in ease of need, hot air fromthe fluesd connected to the furnace, can be supplied. Besides, aventilator u, provided with a damper o, is arranged in the crown of thekiln, through which hot air may, if need be, be discharged.

The drying-hurdle consists of an endless apron c formed of openmaterial, so as to allow the air to pass through. It is carried onrollers?) and receives in the feed-chute f a uniform layer ofgreen-malt. The walls 'w of the flues 701, 7a2, 7:3, are adapted toclosely approach the malt-layer, and a further tightening is effected bymeans of slides s arranged at the extremities of the walls. In thismanner each separate air-current, the temperature of which is adjustedaccording to requirement, can only pass through the portion of themalt-layer that closes the particular flue. Here it absorbs moistureaccording to its dryness and temperature and then, without coming intocontact with other parts of the malt-layer, passes outthrough thedischarge Hue p. A wall y, carried underneath and parallel to the' apronc, is provided with apertures coinciding with the flues 761, 7a2, 7c3,so as to aid in keeping the separate air-currents apart from each other.Moving either continuously or stepwise, the apron 0 carries themalt-layer from one flue to the other, there to be exposed to thedifferent air-currents of which each succeeding one has a highertemperature than the other. The malt is thereby gradually freed frommoisture so that, when reaching the end of the hurdle c it issufficiently dry for being transferred to the hurdles in the kilnproper. Instead ofthree, any suitable number of flues may, of course, bearranged. In view f the intended continuous rotation of the aprons, thelatter are preferably arranged for self-clearing, which can be done inthe same way as in the case of ordinary belt picking-tables, or in anyother manner. The kiln hurdles also consist of endless aprons z'rotating on rollers 7L and moving alternately in opposite directions sothat the malt passes, over detlectors n, from one hurdle to another insuccession. The lowermost hurdle, which is exposed to the greatestthrough the malt-layer.

heat, delivers the malt into the discharge chute 0 whence it is removedby means, for instance by a worm-conveyer g. The working of the kiln isas follows The green-malt is collected from the feedehute f by the apronc and, while being exf posed totheair-currents emanating from the fluesicl, 7a2, 7c3, it is conveyed by said aprons to the top of the kiln. Itis immaterial whether the apron c moves continuously or by leaps fromlflue to `iue, as the result remains the same in both cases.A The aprondelivers the malt to the first hurdle in the kiln proper, whereupon ittravels from hurdle to hurdle until it is discharged into the dischargechute o. All the hurdles, or aprons, are preferably connected tothe sameactuating mechanism by means of a chainor a worm-wheel gearing or thelike, so that the same quantity of malt is always taken up from thechute f as dischargedvinto the chute o, ,whether the movement of thehurdles be continuous or otherwise. As the same temperature ismaintained in the furlllce during the whole of this operation in lspiteof the constant introduction of greenmalt, the consumption of fuel isconsiderably lessened and, as no time is occupied in cooling andclearing the kiln or inY turning the material, a saving of time as wellas of labor is effected.

In the modification shown in Fig. 2, the ,air is conducted from the kilnproper into the drying chamber through a downwardly directed fluearranged underneath the dryling-hurdle or apron c. From said fine it isdistributed into different compartments whence the air-currents ofdifferent temperature thus produced are conducted through thedrying-hurdle and its layer of greens-malt and subsequently dischargedthrough the pipe u. Also inv this case the action of the differentair-currents is restricted to the particular portion of the maltlayerwhich faces each particular chamber. In order to regulate theabsorptivity of the dry air acting on the green-malt, a iiue is arrangedat the-base of the kiln for the introduction of fresh air from theatmosphere, which air becomes more or less heated through its Contactwith the furnace and then mixes with the other dry air rising As thefurnace in this construction projects into the drying chamber, also thelower part of the dryinghurdle, which descends into the feed-chute f,can be actuated by a current of dry air, so that the green-malt is,during its whole travel from said chute to the kiln hurdles, exposed toair currents of which each succeeding one has a higher temperature thanthe' other. The 'malt will therefore be sutiiciently dry before reachingthe kiln proper to completely prevent the production of vitreousparticles. By opening and closing the passages arranged between thecomparb ments as well .21s at the top of the kiln proper,

the drying of the green-malt can, if desired, be retarded and even fullysuppressed. This regulation is, in addition, effected through the inletof fresh air from the base of the kiln. Said air may be either slightlyor not at all heated by the furnace.V

In the drawing (Fig. 2) l is the tlue leading from the kiln proper intothe drying chamber and conducting the air to the compartments 2, 3 and4. The lower one of said compartments is located above the rear part ofthe furnace t, the pipes e' of which in,- troduce the heated air intothe drying chamber. At the base of the kiln, a Hue 5, provided with adamper and adapted to supply fresh air, is arranged. A passage 6 isprovided in the wall of the furnace which supplies heated air to thelower part of the drying-hurdle. Between the compartments 2, 3 and 4,adjustable passages Z are arranged whereby the different temperatures ofsaid compartments can, if desired, be more or less equalized. In orderto retard or completely suppress the drying process, the roof 8,arranged atl the top of the kiln proper, is provided with adjustablepassages 9, through which the air rising from the kiln can be directlydischarged. The working of this construction is the same as in F ig. l,

In the drawing the approximate temperatures at each stage of the processare 'indicated in degrees of centigrade.

rI he drying-hurdle is placed in slanting position only in order toeconomize space; any other position may be resorted to, in which casethe structure of the kiln must be correspondingly modified and thehurdle may also be'divided up into parts. The slanting position is,however, preferable in that thereby a separate elevator for thegreen-maltI is dispensed with.

I claim:

l. Ainalt-kiln for uninterrupted kiln-drying, comprising in combination,a kiln divided into two parts: a kiln proper and a preliminary dryingchamber, a feed-chute arranged at the base of the kiln and in front ofsaid drying chamber, hurdles consisting of a series of superposedtraveling aprons arranged in said kiln proper, a drying hurdleconsisting of an endless traveling apron formed of open materialarranged in said drying chamber and adapted to convey the green maltfrom said feed-chute to the hurdles of the kiln proper, means fordividing the heated air, rising from the kiln proper, into separatecurrents and conducting said currents through the drying hurdle arrangedin the drying chamber and through its layer of green-malt, and means forregulating the temperatuies and the absorptivity p of the air-currents,substantially as set forth.

2. Ainalt-k-iln for uninterrupted kiln-dryin comprising in combination,a kiln dvi ed into two parts: a kiln proper and a preliminary dryingchamber, hurdles consisting of a series of superposed traveling apronsarranged in said kiln proper, a drying hurdle consisting of an endlesstraveling apron arranged in said drying chamber and adapted to conveythe green-malt through said chamber, flues adapted to divide the air,rising from the kiln proper, into separate currents and to pass suchaircurrents through the drying hurdle, means for supplying heated airfrom the furnace direct to the drying chamber and means for supplyingcold air from the atmosphere to the same, substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

3. Amalt-kiln for uninterrupted kiln-drying, comprising in combination,a kiln divided into tvvo parts a kiln proper and a preliminary dryingchamber, a drying-hurdle consistlng of an endless traveling apron formedof open material and adapted to serve as elevator for the green-malt,kilnhurdles consisting of a series of superposed endless aprons,traveling alternately in opposite directions, arranged in said kilnproper and adapted to receive the greenmalt from said drying-hurdle, adischargechute into Which the malt is discharged by the lowest hurdle,and means for exposing said drying-hurdle and its malt-layer to separateair-currents of dierent temperature, substantially as set forth.

RICHARD ROTH. Witnesses:

WILHELM PLANER, HERMANN PLANER.

